Bill Hand: Troubles in New Bern after MLK’s death in 1968

By Bill Hand, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 05:10 PM.

New Bern will never go down in the history books as another Selma, Ala., but that doesn’t mean our town didn’t have significant moments during the Civil Rights movement. I know we had sit-ins, just like those guys at Woolworth’s in Greensboro (and within a few days of it, if I understand right).

Our stores were desegregated in the 60s — our hospitals, too. Our first black alderman was Lee Morgan in 1971. He was elected also our first and only black mayor in 1977. I’ll have to find out more about this guy.

If there is anyone out there who can remember the old sit-ins or Lee Morgan, I’d love to hear from you.

Last Thursday was the 45th anniversary, believe it or not, of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. Chicago was famous for the smoke of the riots and the hordes of National Guardsmen that ensued. New Bern’s reaction to the suddenness and violence of the great man’s passing wasn’t so extreme — after all, we were a rather tiny town — but there were troubles and protests nonetheless.

Here is a kind of timeline, based on Sun Journal articles of the time:

The protests started at Craven Terrace around 10 p.m., after which “from 150 to 200 people” marched on the county courthouse a half hour later. According to Mayor Etheridge Ricks, they “then went to the area of Five Points and did damage to private property.”

I have to break in here to ask: How can you not elect, for mayor, a man whose first name is Etheridge?

New Bern will never go down in the history books as another Selma, Ala., but that doesn’t mean our town didn’t have significant moments during the Civil Rights movement. I know we had sit-ins, just like those guys at Woolworth’s in Greensboro (and within a few days of it, if I understand right).

Our stores were desegregated in the 60s — our hospitals, too. Our first black alderman was Lee Morgan in 1971. He was elected also our first and only black mayor in 1977. I’ll have to find out more about this guy.

If there is anyone out there who can remember the old sit-ins or Lee Morgan, I’d love to hear from you.

Last Thursday was the 45th anniversary, believe it or not, of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. Chicago was famous for the smoke of the riots and the hordes of National Guardsmen that ensued. New Bern’s reaction to the suddenness and violence of the great man’s passing wasn’t so extreme — after all, we were a rather tiny town — but there were troubles and protests nonetheless.

Here is a kind of timeline, based on Sun Journal articles of the time:

The protests started at Craven Terrace around 10 p.m., after which “from 150 to 200 people” marched on the county courthouse a half hour later. According to Mayor Etheridge Ricks, they “then went to the area of Five Points and did damage to private property.”

I have to break in here to ask: How can you not elect, for mayor, a man whose first name is Etheridge?

Businesses were looted and windows shattered in a “six to eight block area” from George Street to Norwood and Pollock streets. The Five Points area was especially hard hit. Among them was Carolina Cleaners, whose empty building is a landmark of sorts at Five Points today.

Jittery town leaders called in help from North Carolina State Highway Patrol and Shore Patrol officers to aid the local police in “quell[ing] the crowd of Negroes.”

The next day, Mayor Ricks, the aldermen and police met with black leaders, appointing 31 of them “to aid in suppressing riots, affrays or other breaches of the peace originating within Negro neighborhoods.” The black residents agreed, but with stipulations, one being that no white policeman would be sent into Five Points or “other nearby Negro areas.”

Also at the request of the black leaders, the city barricaded off “an area from George Street west on Broad Street to Fort Totten Drive” to white people. The city also put the National Guard on standby.

Troubles didn’t end right away. An article the next week had the mayor imposing a 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew on the night of April 9. That same night, someone firebombed a police cruiser containing three officers — Sgt. W.F. Dowdy III, H.L. Jones and E.W. Ipock. The firebomb must have been either a bust or an exaggeration, for it didn’t damage the car or its occupants.

Mayor Ricks declared that the curfew’s continuation would depend on the situation in town as time went by. I saw no article stating whether it was continued.

I have tried to find a little information on the arrested men or the officers — I would love to talk to any of them if they are still alive. To date, I have only found information on Sgt. Dowdy, who has sadly passed on. If anyone has information I could use, please be in touch.